I have a buddy that wants to put five lugs on the front of his truck. He wants to know if '55 passenger brakes will fit on the spindles of his '53 truck so he can convert to five lugs. Anybody know if just the drums/hubs will fit? Can the whole deal be swapped over including backing plates if just the drums won't work? Andy
IIRC 53-54 Chevy car front hubs & drums will mount on 52-59 Chevy/GMC 1/2 ton front spindles with no modifications.
Confirmed! I used a 53 car drums on the front of my 53 1/2 ton. I wanted 5 lugs because I put a 74 Nova rear in the rear with a 74 3spd trans.
Perfect time for an upgrade! Andy, you can do the disc conversion at this point and have better stopping power. Just a thought. You can go either 5 or 6 lugs. How are your kids diggin' on the truck they help bring to life? Are they all a foot taller now? Recording contracts???
Thanks all, Okay, so '53 passenger drums will work. What about '55 passenger drums 'cuz those are the drums that he has available. I believe Bill said '53-'54 in his response. anyway to check if the '55 passenger drums will work? Andy
I never heard that they would. Hollander's wouldn't list the 55 (or the 53-54) hubs/drums because of the 5 bolt vs. 6 bolt pattern difference. I'll check Hollander's tonight for interchange between the 54 and 55 cars, but I'd bet Ken's life (not mine) that they do not swap.
Hollander's interchange says 51-54 passenger car and 53-60 Corvette front HUBs interchange. Brake DRUMs interchange 51-58 passenger cars front & rear, 59-64 passenger car REAR only, 61-65 Corvair forward control (truck) and 53-62 Corvette front & rear with standard brakes. Same book says 63-64 Corvette rear drums interchange too, but I'm pretty sure 63 & 64 Corvette had disk brakes on the rear.
Have never used the 55 and newer but once in a while with the 53/54 you get a grinding noise, especially when turning a corner. The culprit is the car hub seems to protrude past the inner seal a 1/16 or so further than the truck. Just shave that off and the noise is gone.
